


Tiny Miracles

by ardentmuse



Series: Remus Lupin Imagines [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Fear, Friendship/Love, Libraries, Love, Marriage, Post-First War with Voldemort, Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, ardentmuse almost 2k celebration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-10-24 18:57:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20710922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ardentmuse/pseuds/ardentmuse
Summary: Remus had been told since the attack that he couldn't conceive children, so his wife's latest news shatters his world. But thank goodness he has friends to help.Tumblr Request for almost 2k celebration: Hi, Lovely! May I request #41 with a Mr. Remus Lupin, please? Low-key feel like he's a Chidi.





	Tiny Miracles

Remus searched the indexes of each book piled before him, basically every one on his condition that this and a few neighboring libraries had, desperate for a sentence that might guide him just a little. A few times, he was able to flip to a chapter or passage, but even then, the words that popped out to him proved useless:

_No known cases…_  
Blood and saliva…  
Lycanthropy…  
Lupine wolf cubs…  
Kill mother from the inside… 

Remus slammed closed the book and pressed his palms into his eyes to hold down the tears. He hadn’t slept in nearly 30 hours. His head was pounding with hunger and dehydration and, more than anything, fear. The pile of books around him was nearly obscuring his vision but there had to be an answer somewhere.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. He was infertile, or at least that was what the doctors at St. Mungo’s had told him parents when he was five.

“Werewolves are incapable of procreating with uninfected humans,” they had said. “And mating together can only happen during the full moon and will produce wolves, not humans.”

His mother had cried a lot, he remembered, mourning the loss of her future grandchildren since she was no longer capable of having more babies of her own. Remus remembered those muffled cries a little too well. He had mourned too for the life he couldn’t provide his parents and the life he couldn’t provide himself. But over time, he had grown to accept it. To be willing to watch Harry and whatever other little ones his friends would have grow would be enough for him.

But then you came into his life, his perfect angel of care and kindness and silliness and he mourned all over again. He knew it was selfish to date you. You deserved a home full of mini ones with your eyes and your smile, so much joy surrounding you all. You would be a fabulous mother — of that he had no doubt — but you chose him and everything that entailed, empty nest and all.

He never in a million years anticipated this.

Maybe that time he bit you by accident during sex and you suddenly could smell very clearly had made your womb open to his seed. Maybe when your patrons changed, you grew a little more wolfish as a result. Or maybe werewolves can only mate when they find true love.

Whatever it was, the answer had to be in a book somewhere.

A soft knock on the top of his book fort woke him from his tearful daze.

“Hey, Remy,” Lily said, “How you doin’ in there?”

Remus looked up to meet her face. Lily’s cheeks were full and flush, her hands gently supporting the large swell of her belly, carrying the second child to join the Potter clan. The war had ended less than a year ago and Lily and James immediately decided to continue their family. “No more death, only life,” they had said. This one was a girl to join little Harry, one they had agreed to name Alice in honor of Longbottoms whose untimely end had left a baby alone in the world but also stopped Voldemort for good. Lily and James knew too well how, if they had had less loyal friends, it could have been Harry orphaned and alone.

“I feel like death.”

Lily laughed, “And you look like it, too,” before taking a seat beside him a pushing the books far out of reach.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen, Lil. In fact, it has never happened in known medical history if these books are to be believed.”

“Miracles happen every day, Remus. Shouldn’t this baby be something we celebrate?”

Lily reached out to grab Remus’s hand but he jerked it away. He pulled himself to standing on his wobbly, sleep-deprived feet.

“No, we shouldn’t!” Remus shouted, “And that thing inside my wife is not a baby. If it is anything like me, it is a cold-blooded killed controlled only by the waning of the moon and its desire for flesh. And it lives inside my wife, just waiting to grow enough strength to murder her!”

Lily persisted despite Remus’s ranting, grabbing him by the shoulders and leading him back to his chair. Remus was tired and his breathing swallow. He followed her guided movements with ease. Soon, Lilly was kneeling before Remus, her belly brushing against his knees.

“Or inside your wife resides a beautiful, precious little baby, just waiting to grow so she can meet her daddy, drink some milk, learn some magic and make all of our lives better just by being here. If that baby is anything like you, it is kind, smart, sharp and human.”

Remus was crying again, and his palms couldn’t hold back the flood gates this time.

“I’m just so scared, Lil.”

“And what do you think Y/N is feeling? You left her all alone these past two days. She told you something very scary, something about which she needs you both to be brave, and you ran away.”

The soft circles Lily was drawing into his knee were juxtaposed to the harsh way those last three words spit from her mouth. Lilly wasn’t here to comfort him, he now understood. Lily was here to force him to toughen up for your sake. Lily’d probably spent the past two days listening to you cry about how your husband left you pregnant and alone and Lily simply couldn’t take it anymore.

He felt like utter shit just picturing it.

“What do I do, Lily? What’s the secret?… Is the secret more books? How many more books do I need?”

Lily pushed away the few books that were still in Remus’s reach.

“No more books. There isn’t a book to learn how to talk to your wife,” Lily’s voice was heavy but then she laughed. “But if you find one, send it to James, yeah? Boy’s an idiot.”

Remus laughed a little, too, and with it, Remus looked up from his hovel for the first time since Lily arrived. James, Sirius, and Harry were standing in the alcove leading to the stacks, giving Lily space to talk to you but providing support regardless. Harry was holding a stuffed niffler and bounding it off the archway.

“Think he heard you,” Remus said.

“Twas the intention.” Lily smiled at Remus and with it he felt some life returning to his limbs. Though, seeing Lily like this, full and jovial with her rounded belly, made him miss you all the more. He wondered if you’d look as striking and radiant as Lily seemed to during her pregnancies, just beauty and grace flowing from her. He ventured you’d be even more so. You were far more striking already in his eyes. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t ever imagined such a thing.

“She could die,” Remus whispered like a secret, as if saying it out loud made it real.

Lily’s eyes had drifted to the place where her family resided just a ways off. At Remus’s words, her gaze snapped back and she frowned deeply.

“You’re right, she could,” Lily said, not trying to soften the blow, “But so could I. All women put their lives on the line to bring life into this world. That’s our burden. But we’ll get the best healers and we’ll keep her on bedrest as needed and we’ll make sure there is a lot of red meat in her diet just in case.”

Remus nodded, not because he felt any better, but because he knew there was nothing else to do. You had already said you were keeping the baby, the miracle life inside you, and you weren’t willing to hear arguments against it. You had spoken with the healers and while no one knew for sure what was going to happen, they knew you and baby were currently in good health. 

You definitely were being much braver than he was. He felt like he should give back his house robes.

“I just love her so much,” Remus said into his hands.

“I love you, too.”

Remus’s eyes popped up again and behind Lily you stood. You were bundled up in your robes, the weather growing chillier with each day, and while Remus couldn’t see the tiny protrusion of your uterus that had just started pushing past your hip bones, the knowledge that it was there made him burn with protective love for you.

His gaze continued up to your face. Your eyes were puffy with crying, their rims red and angry. Your hair could use some attention and your smile wasn’t reaching the corners of your mouth.

Immediately, Remus stood and ran to you. His arms crashed around you as his lips showered your cheeks with kisses.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered into your ear as he held you close, squeezing as hard as he dared given your state.

“I understand,” you whispered to him, “I can’t imagine how scary this is for you.”

Remus grabbed your shoulders and pulled away to see your face. You were smiling at him somehow. Somehow, you were seeing his pain beyond all your own.

“Our baby needs a father who’ll be strong for him. The world is a cruel, cold place for their kind and I promise you I’m ready to step up. I love you.”

Your gaze stayed trained on his face as your eyebrows scrunched in what Remus thought was fear. 

“Their kind?” you asked.

“Babies,” Remus assured you. “It’s a difficult world for babies.”

You laughed and Remus did too. And as he straightened his back and pulled you tight to his chest, Remus felt like himself for the first time since you had shared the news. Only now, he felt like one thing more — a father.


End file.
